The Estuary Partnership was pleased to honor Lee Ellen Gilronan as our 2019 Steward of the Year.
Lee Ellen Gilronan
Dorothy Fox Elementary School
Lee Ellen grew up in Washougal, Washington along the shores of the Columbia River, where her mom was also a fifth grade teacher and her dad taught high school biology. Her parents instilled a love of the natural world through animals, gardening, camping, and enjoying the Pacific Northwest. Lee Ellen has worked in education for 36 years, with the past 20 years spent teaching fifth grade in Camas. She has always enjoyed the sciences and has been an advocate for science education as a district liaison and State Science Fellow.
Throughout the school year, Lee Ellen takes her students outside of the classroom to enrich their learning and advocates for other teachers to do the same. This includes field trips through the Columbia Gorge and monthly water quality testing in the neighboring bioswale. She has worked with the Estuary Partnership for eleven years, and in that time she has taken hundreds of students to Steigerwald Lake National Wildlife Refuge for an outdoor field experience and restoration service project. Over the years, she has also supported the curriculum development work of the Estuary Partnership and helped with teacher workshops. Lee Ellen and her husband Kevin share five grown children and their dog Rocky.